University Hilton Wedding | Lindsey + Derek

Shannon Arney - Friday, April 08, 2016

We are so excited to be able to announce that our very own bride, Lindsey Mueller is being featured on Poeme in their Bride Spotlight series! We captured the newlyweds', Lindsey
and Derek, wedding last May. Their celebration was held at the Hilton Charlotte University Place, a venue that offers an beautiful backdrop
for a wedding ceremony. Lindsey's bright and bold color palate helped produce incredible images of this couple's big day. The two put
on a gorgeous event and the bride herself is definitely deserving of this recognition.

In Lindsey's spotlight she was asked "to share her and Derek's love story and all about planning a beautiful destination wedding." While most of
their family lives in Charlotte, NC, Lindsey and Derek are currently residents of Cincinnati, Ohio where they are both working on their PhD.s. Now
that is a Power Couple!! Thinking primarily of their guests, the two chose to take on the challenge of planning their wedding remotely, and only have
beautiful things to say about the experience. We want to share with you some of what she told Poeme about their story.

Tell us a little about you and your husband.

My husband and I enjoy doing many things together as we have similar interests. We are currently enrolled in the same Ph.D. program at UC so that takes up most of our leisure time. When we do get free time, however, we enjoy watching our favorite sports teams (Carolina Panthers!), spending time with our friends, and exploring great restaurants in the city. We also enjoy nice relaxing evenings at home with our pup, Bella, and our kitty, Moe.

What was your initial vision for you wedding and how did it evolve?

We really have to give credit to our wedding vendors for bringing our initial vision of our wedding to reality. We wanted a smaller, more intimate wedding where our closest friends and family members could join us on our special day. Since we had a lot of out of town guests, we did not want them to drive very far so we decided to have our wedding and reception in a hotel. We also had a vision of bright vibrant colors since our wedding was in May. Our florist helped bring this image to mind when she selected the perfect mixture of pink, orange, purple, green, and yellow flowers.

As for our photographers, we really wanted them to capture the memorable moments with not a lot of “posed” pictures. They did an excellent job of capturing sentimental moments of us with our parents, friends, and family members. Additionally, we created a playlist of songs that would capture all genres and age groups to get everyone on their feet – the DJ was very successful in keeping the vibe fun and easygoing. Most of all, we wanted our guests to have a great time and many people have told us that it was the most fun they have had in a while.

What did you learn about yourself in the planning process?

First, I learned that planning a wedding is difficult, especially living in another city. Luckily, I had my mother to assist me in the process. She was very helpful in planning, organizing, and making sure things were taken care of on the day of the wedding. I also learned not to worry about the small, minor details because they all come into place eventually. What I really took away from the whole process is that no matter how much you plan, what you make of your wedding day is how it will turn out. For me, it didn’t matter if anything went wrong because I was getting married to my best friend and had all the people who truly mattered to Derek and I there for us.

Please take a trip over to Poeme to continue reading about Lindsey's journey to her wedding day. She has so much more to say about her and Derek's love story, their proposal, their
Jamaican honeymoon and more.

Archive

They worked with me and my husband (who isn't as social as I am) to make us feel comfortable with our photo sessions, and were very organized on our wedding day. Each picture is breathtaking! I just wish all the photos weren't so great...it's hard to choose which ones I want to put in an album!!!